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Life of Pi

A Novel

The precocious son of a zookeeper, 16-year-old Pi Patel is raised in Pondicherry, India, where he tries on various faiths for size, attracting "religions the way a dog attracts fleas." Planning a move to Canada, his father packs up the family and their menagerie and they hitch a ride on an enormous freighter. After a harrowing shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a 26-foot lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, a seasick orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

This book made me feel that whoever wrote the line above didn't have a clue about what might make anyone believe in god...or anything about islands or meerkats, either. This book seemed to be a metaphor for a lot of things, but I couldn't care enough about it to waste my time trying to guess what it might be. It was interesting enough to read...and silly enough to make me hoot when the absurdities cropped up. It assumes readers are either a lot smarter or a lot stupider than they probably are; I felt "used" after reading this book. But I was able to finish it and I can't say that for every book out there.

Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel begins this extraordinary, yet bizarre novel, Life of Pi, as a teenager in Pondicherry, India, where his father is a zoo keeper. Deciding to immigrate to Canada, Pi’s father sells off most of the zoo animals; bringing few animals with them on a boat to their new home. Pi’s whole family dies on sea when they meet a storm. Pi must now survive on a lifeboat with an adult Bengal Tiger, called Richard Parker. This outlandish story, written by Yann Martel, is deceptively complex with many larger themes, such as religion, the force of nature, survival, and fate. The novel goes a little fast, when looking at what Pi goes through in 227 days. Overall, it is a fun book to read, challenging your imagination. The only thing that was confusing was if the story was true. In my opinion the book is better than the movie. Life of Pi is one of the best books I have read, even though there is more to the book than the eye can see. I fully recommend anyone to read this unique and creative book. I give Life of Pi a 4.5/5 rating.
- @CrimsonLightning of the Teen Review Board at the Hamilton Public Library

Life of Pi follows the story of Pi Patel, a young Indian boy who survives a sinking ship and must live on a lifeboat with an adult Bengal tiger in order to survive. The story involves many larger themes such as life philosophy, religion and the order of nature. The story is paced a little slowly, but that may be intentional considering all of Pi’s days are mostly the same and it’s not like a small lifeboat in the middle of the ocean is going to be the setting of an action-packed adventure. The character development is strong, Pi is a very interesting protagonist and the story dances on a fine line between a fictional and non-fictional style of story-telling (i.e. how realistic the story is). Overall an amazing book that is superior to its movie adaptation and definitely worth reading. 4.5/5 Stars
- @Fulton of the Teen Review Board at the Hamilton Public Library

I quite enjoyed this book. Having jst finished it I am not sure if I would read it again, thus I would actually give this book a rating of 4.5. I had attempted to read it about 4 years ago and it fell to the wayside after the book was stolen from me and I didn't feel compelled to pick it up again. I had watched the movie but I didn't find it memorable as when I read the book I didn't remember much about the film other than the scene with the flying fish because it was visually striking. I found it easy to read and manageable with the short chapters (seriously, one of my favourite things about books). I particularly liked the bit at the end with the Japanese translation. I didn't find that at any point the book was dragging or I was skimming bits. Quite a solid read.

Honestly, I don't really get all the fuss with this book. Slow start, blah blah blah, talks about fishing turtles for weeks. But then there's the "philosophy" everyone is oohing and ahhing about, which is why I decided to read this book. IT'S NOT EVEN THERE. I read A LOT of books, and there's more philosophy in most then this. Yeah, Pi believes in multiple religions and lives on a boat with a tiger for the time being, but I don't see what everyone's talking about.

It must be said again, this is an extraordinary novel. Yann Martel has crafted a true masterpiece, a once-in-a-lifetime book that will stand the test of time and live up to anyone's expectations. 'Pi' Patel, named after a swimming pool (!) begins life in India and works as a zookeeper's assistant for his father in the family zoo until the day his dad takes the family and some of the animals to America in an unsafe cargo boat. This novel describes what happens during that ill-fated crossing. It is a complex read. The events themselves are simple: the quotidian survival tasks he must perform to exist at all, let alone with Richard Parker on the ready are juxtaposed with his innermost thoughts on God, religion - indeed, all religions, in fact just about everything and anything you can think about on a long ocean voyage all by yourself! The movie was surprisingly good but cannot compare to the shades of complexity that lie within this amazing novel.
Highly recommend to anyone who likes to think.

Quotes

Pi, upon being afraid to find a Bengal Tiger in his life boat: "You might think I lost all hope at that point. I did. And as a result I perked up and felt much better, We see that in sports all the time, don't we? The tennis challenger starts strong, but soon loses confidence in his playing. The champion racks up his game. But in the final set, when the challenger has nothing left to lose, he becomes relaxed again, insouciant, daring. Suddenly he's playing like the devil and and the champion must work hard to get those last points. So it was with me."

"... animals don't escape to somewhere but from some something. Something within their territory has frightened them-the intrusion of an enemy, the assault of a dominant animal, a startling noise- and set off a flight reaction."

AmandaVollmershausen
Oct 12, 2012

"Let's hear your story," he said, panting.

"Once upon a time there was a banana and it grew. It grew until it was large, firm, yellow and fragrant. Then it fell to the ground and someone came upon it and ate it."

He stopped rowing. "What a beautiful story!"

"Thank you." (Pg 316)

AmandaVollmershausen
Oct 12, 2012

Then I raced up the hill on the right-to offer thanks to Lord Krishna for having put Jesus of Nazareth, whose humanity I found so compelling, in my way. (pg 73)

Pi Patel grew up in India swimming and hanging out in his family owned Zoo. He practices Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism, after visiting a church, Mosque, and a Hindu Temple on a vacation. When he was 16 his family and him left for Canada on a Japanese Cargo ship but never reached their destination, due to a storm causing the ship to sink. Pi's family died but Pi survived leaving him alone... Yet he wasn't the only one to survive, a 450 pound tiger named Richard Parker survived also along with a Hyena, a wounded Zebra, and an Orangutan. Pi Patel was on a small lifeboat stranded in the middle of the ocean with 4 wild animals. The Hyena eats the Zebra alive and then also kills the orangutan. The Tiger Richard Parker then killed the Hyena. Now Pi was just alone with a grown tiger. Pi and this Tiger survived 227 days stranded in the middle of the ocean until he reached Mexico. Richard Parker walked away into the jungle in Mexico never to be seen again by Pi. After Japanese authorities hear of a Japanese Cargo Ship sinking and one lone survivor they drive down to meet Pi, to get answers out of him. He tells his story, but the Japanese do not believe it and ask him to tell the true story, he then tells of another gruesome version of the story with humans in the place of the animals. Not knowing which story was the true one the Japanese leave and Pi spends the rest of his life in Canada.

The_Light_Particle
Dec 19, 2012

A young Indian and his parents cast off to move to Canada when an unexpected storm happens that killed his family.Now all he has is a simple lifeboat and a adult male tiger and has to adapt to it if he wants to survive...

THE LIFE OF PI is one of two of the most unusual books I've ever come across. The other was McCrae's KATZENJAMMER. (A third was ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY by Sedaris, though that book is quite funny as well). LIFE OF PI is told by the central character, Pi, whose real name Piscene (pool) has been distorted in childhood to Pissing, assumes a name that measures the diameter of a circle, the symbol of omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. Pi tells two stories of being lost at sea--one story of a miraculous survival for 277 days of a boy on a boat with a Bengal tiger and another story of cannibalism and murder on that same boat whose occupants are Pi, a cook, Pi's mother, and a Taiwanese sailor. Pi says, "So tell me . . .which is the better story? And so it goes with God." Life of Pi concludes with the investigators for the shipwreck's cause choosing the first story in which the caged animals somehow all escaped from their cages as the ship Tsimtsum sank suddenly to the bottom of the Pacific as the more believable, but is the reader to do so? Before choosing to believe the first story, Mr. Chiba, one of the investigators, makes associations between the hyena in the first story and the cook in the second; he sees the zebra in the first as the Taiwanese sailor in the second. The orangutan in the first was Pi's mother in the second, and the tiger Richard Parker from the first is Pi in the second. Then Mr. Chiba asks, "What about the island? Who are the meerkats? What about the teeth? I don't know. I am not inside this boy's head." Must also recommend KATZENJAMMER by McCrae and the novel BARK OF THE DOGWOOD for two other great reads.